Tidal arrives on the Amazon Echo

One key thing the HomePod has on the competition: streaming service synergy. It’s an important advantage at the heart of the premium smart speaker. While both Amazon and Google have their own streaming options, they pale in comparison to the top services, so third-parties are really the way to go.

Amazon’s just added another key offering to its arsenal. Tidal, the music streaming service that Jay-Z built, is now available on Echo devices courtesy of Amazon’s recently introduced Music Skill API. The move is likely to be more of a boon for Tidal than Amazon, of course, but the more options the better, naturally.

The service has been making an aggressive push to make its way to more devices, including the recent addition of a Samsung Wearable app. Tidal is clearly looking toward strategic outreach on Apple’s chief competition. The enemy of my enemy is my hardware partner and all of that good stuff.

The new skill makes it possible to set Tidal as your default Echo streaming service, so long as you’ve got a premium account.